Zu An felt the emperor’s aura lock onto him, fierce enough to silence him forever if he spoke even a single wrong word. Zu An cursed him in his heart. You’re behaving so arrogantly just because your cultivation is high!

He quickly let his anger subside. A high level of cultivation did indeed make an individual special. At the very least, there was nothing he could do about it right now.

He bowed and said, “Your Majesty. In response to your question, I haven’t yet received any information regarding the Devil Sect’s sect master.”

The emperor gave a grunt of dissatisfaction. “Then what’s the use in sending you to infiltrate the Devil Sect?”

Zu An was rather disgruntled. Wasn’t this guy being too impatient? “Your Majesty, even though this subject did not pick up any news regarding the Devil Sect’s sect master, I have discovered that the Devil Sect has a secret hideout in the capital.”

After some discussion, he and Yun Jianyue had agreed on this course of action. Even though Yun Jianyue didn’t know that he had been given the mission to infiltrate their sect, she didn’t mind helping him out in this manner. After all, from her point of view, Zu An had brought all manner of trouble upon himself for helping her, and this was just a way of giving him an additional layer of protection.

As for that secret hideout, it was obviously a chess piece that had been prepared ahead of time.

“Oh?” The emperor’s expression calmed slightly. “You’ve done well. Lean on your status as an Embroidered Envoy to dig out that hideout.”

Zu An bowed. “Understood!” The emperor was truly a cautious man. He’s making me investigate the location I provided. If it turns out to be empty and deserted, I will only bring suspicion upon myself.

You think you’re already one step ahead, but I’m five steps ahead of you! I’ve already predicted this thought of yours. There are quite a few Devil Sect members there, and many of them are even higher-ranking figures within the sect! Of course, they are all part of factions that oppose Yun Jianyue. She clearly wouldn’t mind using the emperor’s forces to wipe them out once and for all.

These people are all old foxes, I tell ya!

Even though Zu An was mocking the emperor, he was also praising Yun Jianyue. She may look like a goddess, descended from the clouds, yet her schemes were extremely vicious.

He really had to be careful around these people, or he’d end up badly burned.

The emperor nodded in satisfaction, then pretended to mention idly, “By the way, I heard that you got into a dispute with King Qi’s heir. Do you know how grave a crime it is to offend an important member of the court?!”

“This subject has been wrongly accused of this!” Zu An replied quickly. “I was not out to offend him. Rather, he was the one who framed me.”

He explained the scheme that King Qi’s heir had concocted to the emperor.

“Zhao Zhi seems to have inherited some of his father’s intellect. Unfortunately, he is still a little too young,” sneered the emperor. When he looked at Zu An, though, his eyes burned with praise. “I didn’t expect you to see through all of this. Not only that, you even made him suffer for it. You’re rather quick-witted, kid.”

Zu An could sense that the emperor was trying his best not to laugh. The emperor was surely reveling in this victory. After all, he had waged a long, difficult battle with King Qi, and it had been a long while since King Qi’s faction had suffered such a huge loss.

He had to seize the opportunity while the emperor was in a good mood. He adopted a bitter expression and said, “Now, though, I’ve completely offended King Qi. I will be a dead man if King Qi seeks revenge.”

“Don’t worry. Knowing King Qi, he won’t act directly against you, but make use of someone else instead. If you can deal with both Zhao Zhi and Han Fengqiu, who else can do anything to you?” The emperor seemed extremely pleased. He had indeed underestimated this little fellow! Judging from the way he was maturing, he could still be a great asset even if he failed to get the fake manual into King Qi’s hands.

The brat had truly been a thorn in King Qi’s side these past few days.

Zu An sighed in relief. Although the emperor made no promises, he knew that he would never let King Qi act against him directly.

He wasn’t taking such a strong stance against King Qi’s faction because he’d been forced to. He was also doing it to prove himself in the eyes of the emperor.

Only by demonstrating his ability, and showing that he could never live under the same sky as King Qi, would this man be willing to completely trust him and protect him, rather than use him as a mere sacrificial pawn.

“By the way, why did such a large ball of water suddenly appear?” The emperor asked in a seemingly nonchalant manner.

Zu An trembled. The incident had just taken place, yet the emperor was already privy to all the details! The reports provided to him by the Embroidered Envoys were incredible.

Thank heavens I’ve prepared a response ahead of time.

He immediately looked surprised and replied, “Oh? I assumed that it was you who sent an expert to protect me, Your Majesty.”

The emperor felt his breath catch in his throat. He grunted a non-committal reply and did not try to explain himself further, trying to make it seem as though he really had sent someone to protect Zu An.

At the same time, he began to wonder to himself which power had protected Zu An.

The Chu clan? But Chu Zhongtian is only at the eighth rank. He doesn’t have the necessary strength to protect Zu An.

Could another unknown power have entered the fray?

As the emperor, he wasn’t fond of unknown variables. However, it seemed pointless to continue to question Zu An about this, so he changed his line of questioning. “Why did Yu Yanluo invite you inside her carriage?”

He didn’t ask why Yu Yanluo would help Zu An, because she was precisely the one who had asked him to keep Zu An alive. This was how he knew that she was indebted to Zu An.

Zu An caught the hint of jealousy in the emperor’s voice. Yu Yanluo really has a lot of simps! The other simps pose no problem, but this simp is vicious! I have to be careful, or else he might just do something crazy out of jealousy.

“Perhaps it’s because I saved her life in Brightmoon City before,” he replied quickly. “She probably favors me as a junior.”

The knot between the emperor’s brows loosened. It was fine if she saw him as a junior. “So then, how has your cultivation rank increased so quickly? How could it be that even Zhao Zhi and Han Fengqiu could do nothing to you? Is it because of the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra?”

Zu An shivered. A hint of killing intent flashed across the other party’s expression.

After all, the text he’d offered the emperor did not have such effects. The emperor might have already begun to question the authenticity of the manual.

Why does it feel like I’m living with a bloody lion all the time?

Fortunately, Zu An was prepared for this eventuality. “Your Majesty, if not for Madam Yu’s help, I might have been killed by Han Fengqiu. As for King Qi’s heir, the ‘Sunflower Phantasm’ that Old Mi passed on to me just barely managed to keep me in the fight.”

The emperor snorted. “Even the most miraculous of movement techniques have their limits. How is this possible unless you’ve already reached the seventh rank?” He clearly didn’t believe a word Zu An had said.

Left with no choice, Zu An said with a troubled expression, “Your Majesty is both wise and brilliant. Old Mi tried to possess my body, but his attempt failed for some reason. He lost his soul in the process, but a portion of his strength was left in my body. This is why I managed to advance so quickly.”

Something seemed to click inside the emperor’s mind. “So that’s what it was. I was wondering why I sensed some of Eunuch Mi’s cultivation within you.”

Zu An clasped his fist. “Your Majesty is enlightened!”

Within his heart, though, he was thinking a very different thought. if you knew the truth, you'd be extremely embarrassed right now!

The emperor nodded, satisfied. “Take your leave. Remember to investigate the Devil Sect’s hideout.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!” 

…

After Zu An left the study, he immediately found a place to change into his Golden Token Eleven uniform. Then, he sought out the Embroidered Envoys who were on standby, and headed towards the Devil Sect hideout.

The people in the hideout were horrified when they saw the Embroidered Envoys coming at them. They had been sold out by Yun Jianyue, so their reactions were perfectly genuine.

A series of pitched battles ensued. There were many Devil Sect experts in the hideout, but Zu An did not need to get personally involved. The silver- and bronze-token envoys were able to subdue all opposition by themselves.

Zu An was impressed. The Embroidered Envoys' coordinated battle style was truly formidable, and their Soul-Reaping Chains were especially difficult to defend against.

As the prisoners were hauled off to prison by the Embroidered Envoys, Zu An finally sighed in relief. This should allay the emperor’s suspicions of him.

He returned to his estate after leaving the imperial palace, and was stunned as he reached the entrance.

It looked like someone had barged into it!

However, whoever it was hadn’t broken through the defensive formation around his residence. Did this person possess an incredible level of cultivation?

Despite this, he had just fought against someone at the peak of the ninth rank, so he was feeling quite confident. Instead of backing down, he sneaked inside.

A man and a woman were chatting inside. The man had pretty features that surpassed those of any ordinary woman, while the woman was even more beautiful and elegant.

“Big sis, brother-in-law is really perverted,” the young man said. “You have to watch out for him.”

The beautiful woman seemed surprised. “Did he bully you?”

The young man blushed and hurriedly said, “He didn’t, he didn’t. But he’s always out there seducing girls, and he doesn’t even care that I’m right there watching.”

The beautiful woman frowned. “When it comes to other things, that fellow is still all right, but this part of him is truly ridiculous!”

She remembered how her best friend had gone to bed with him, and immediately became upset.

You have successfully trolled Chu Chuyan for 233… 233… 233…

“Exactly! Exactly!” exclaimed the youngster, fanning the flames. “Big sis, it’s already been so long, yet he hasn’t returned. Did he end up staying at some vixen’s place? I saw him flirting with that girl in the carriage this morning. Perhaps they agreed to meet tonight!”